Natural=Expensive? One Natural's Perspective on Products

If you went natural before the wave of online blogs and sites dedicated to natural hair, you probably bought whatever you saw on the shelves of your local store. If you've gone natural since, you no doubt have heard the endless lists of ingredients to avoid, ingredients to look for, chemicals, preservatives, yada yada yada. Nothing wrong with information right? Maya Angelou did say "when you know better, you do better" and I think she's right. So it is always interesting to me to hear perspectives of natural ladies who have been around before the latest "hype" if you will. I remember when I went natural 11 years ago, there were no forums or blogs, at least not like today. I tried different things and stuck to what worked.

Lately, there have been tons of natural hair lines popping up around the web. It's really cool to see so many women taking control of their own hair and making products that work for them. However, one of the coolest things about going natural to me was having freedom from "needing" certain products to make my hair healthy and look good. If I buy something now it is for fun, not because I feel I have to have something in order for my hair to thrive. How many of us grew up using grease and water and our hair did just fine? Does that mean I will go back to using the thick blue gunk in a jar? Probably not. But I realize that it is less about what I use and more about how I treat my hair.

So what got me thinking about al this was AyannaNaeela's video below. It's a response to another YouTuber's comments about the expense of natural hair products. What do you think? Does natural=expensive for you? Have you found you spend more money now than you did before you went natural? If so, what do you attribute it to?